Etymologically
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vacanza

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Pronunciation

  • /vaˈkan.t͡sa/[1]

Forms

vacanza f (plural vacanze)[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian vacare + -anza, or from vacante (“vacant”), according to DELI, Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli.[2][3][4][5] Others give it as Latin vacantia (“being free”), the neuter plural of vacāns, the present participle of vacō (“to be empty, to be free”), taken through French vacance: this is the view of Treccani, GDLI, Sabatini–Coletti and Wiktionary.[6][7][8][1] Latin “vacantia” itself is recorded only in the Middle Ages.[1] Romanian vacanță was borrowed from the Italian word.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Machiavelli (1522–1525), who uses the plural vacanzie for the vacancy of church benefices: the Church ordered that during le vacanze de' benefici a year's income be paid to the Camera;[2][7][9] Zingarelli dates the word earlier, before 1328.[2][7][9] The first sense is the state of an office without a holder and the time it lasts.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a break from work, school or public business followed.[2] Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses the plural for the time when schools and academies are closed (1619) and for the summer holidays (1612); the general sense of a pause in ordinary work is in the Milanese press of 1802, though a definition in Florio's dictionary of 1598 may already show it.[2] Old variants were vacanzia and vacància.[7][10]

The old sense survives for offices: la vacanza della Sede Apostolica is the time between the death of a pope and the election of the next.[7][6] In physics a vacanza is a vacancy in a crystal lattice.[9][8] Phrases include andare in vacanza, villaggio vacanze “holiday village” and, jokingly, avere il cervello in vacanza “to be absent-minded”.[4][5]

Timeline

  • 1522–1525 – Machiavelli uses vacanzie for vacant benefices.[2][4]
  • 1598 – Florio defines a cessation from ordinary work.[2]
  • 1612 – Buonarroti the Younger uses vacanze for summer holidays.[2]
  • 1619 – He uses it for the closure of schools and academies.[2]
  • 1802 – The Milanese press uses it for a break from work.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A holiday, a day or days off work or school: Lunedì è vacanza per la festa del patrono.[4][5][8]
  2. Often in the plural, a period of rest, especially the summer vacation: Quest'anno passeremo le vacanze in Sardegna.[4][5][8]
  3. In the plural, the school holidays: le vacanze di Pasqua.[4][5][6]
  4. The vacancy of an office, and the time it lasts: la vacanza della sede vescovile.[4][8][9]
  5. (physics) A vacancy, a missing atom in a crystal lattice.[9][8][11]

Word family

  • vacanziere
  • vacanziero

Usage notes

Ferie is the usual word for the paid leave of a worker, vacanze for the holiday itself.[9][4] Fare vacanza means “to take a day off”.[9][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  7. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  8. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli